The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
A communication network can be implemented as a wired or wireless communication network of various fixed and/or mobile devices that are commonly referred to as nodes, client devices, and/or peer devices of the network. In an ad-hoc communication network, each of the peer devices can receive and communicate data throughout the network, such as throughout a college campus, metropolitan area, community network, and across other geographic areas. A peer device is typically part of an ad-hoc network for the duration of a communication session or, for mobile or portable devices, while in proximity to the ad-hoc network. In an infrastructure communication network, an access point communicates with a network of node devices.
The peer devices and node devices in the various networks can implement system-on-chip (SoC) integrated circuits that are being utilized in smaller and/or increasingly complex consumer electronic devices, such as cell phones, media players, digital cameras, network equipment, and the like. Typically, all or most of the electronic circuitry, a microprocessor, memory, input-output (I/O) logic control, communication interfaces and components, other hardware, firmware, and/or software to run a device can be integrated within an SoC. As the peer devices and node devices are designed to be smaller and more complex, conserving device power continues to be a design initiative, particularly when the devices are smaller and have limited battery or power cell space.